Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Director of City Development seeking approval to the site allocations material – the Issues and Options documents - contained within the report in order to enable a period of public consultation to be held during June/July 2013 on the Site Allocations Plan.

As part of the wideranging review and Elected Member consultation exercise which has been undertaken in relation to the development of the Leeds LDF Site Allocations Plan, the Development Plan Panel met on 30^th April 2013 to formally agree the material to be submitted to Executive Board with the recommendation that it is released for the purposes of public consultation.  In order for Development Plan Panel’s views to be incorporated into the Executive Board report, it has been agreed that this report and the associated appendices will be published as soon as possible and dealt with at the Board meeting as a late item of business.  In order to maintain the progress in developing the Leeds LDF Site Allocations Plan, it has been recommended that this matter should be determined at the 9^th May Executive Board meeting.

Further to Minute No. 250, 16^th May 2012, the Director of City Development submitted a report which sought the Board’s approval of the Site Allocations material, specifically Volumes 1 and 2 of the Issues and Options documents, as appended to the submitted report, in order to enable a period of public consultation to be undertaken during June and July 2013 on the Site Allocations Plan.

In presenting the report, the Executive Member for Neighbourhoods, Planning and Support Services placed on record his thanks to all officers who had been involved in the development of the Site Allocations documentation for their considerable efforts in getting the documents to this current stage. In addition, the Executive Member also thanked all Councillors who had contributed as part of the associated Elected Member engagement processes which had been undertaken to date.

Correspondence which had been received from Stuart Andrew MP regarding Leeds’ housing targets was tabled at the meeting for Board Members’ consideration. Responding to the correspondence and also to Members’ comments, the Board received information on the reasoning behind the housing targets detailed within the Leeds LDF Site Allocations Plan being consistent with the level of housing need identified within the Core Strategy. In addition, consideration was also given to how the approach proposed in Leeds compared to that being taken by neighbouring Local Authorities.

Also tabled at the meeting was amended wording in respect of paragraph 1.4.3 and section E5 of Volume 2, Housing Market Characteristic Area (HMCA) 1 (Aireborough) regarding Leeds Bradford International Airport. It was recommended that the revised wording was incorporated into the relevant sections of the issues and options document.

In considering the documentation, a question and answer session ensued. The key points raised were as follows:-

·  It was noted that Members may have specific concerns regarding individual site allocations proposed, however, it was acknowledged that the purpose of the documentation submitted to the Board was to facilitate early community and stakeholder engagement on a range of options;

·  It was emphasised that the site allocations process needed to be progressed at the earliest opportunity in order to enable the Council to produce a Site Allocations Plan which would demonstrate that sufficient land would be available when needed to meet the Core Strategy targets. It was noted that having such arrangements in place would enable the Council to have greater influence and provide greater direction on development throughout the city;

·  Members welcomed the fact that the number of site allocations proposed in the ‘green’ and ‘amber’ categories was substantially greater than the residual requirement in each of the HCMAs, thus providing considerable choice for public comment;

·  The Board highlighted the need for the proposed public consultation exercise to be robust and genuine, and emphasised the need for all sections of the community to be involved, including young people and the elderly;

·  Emphasis was placed upon the need to ensure that the unique character of communities throughout Leeds was retained;

·  The importance of the Neighbourhood Planning agenda  ...  view the full minutes text for item 243